High-Stakes Tests

High-stakes testing is an evaluation process whereby a major consequence is attached to a standardized test. “High stakes” refers to the outcome or consequence of the process, which for the student can be a grade or the potential to fail a course. While any test can be perceived by the test taker as high stakes if a grade is associated with it, high stakes here refers to standardized tests developed specifically to evaluate student achievement and school effectiveness.

Proponents of high-stakes testing believe that attaching significant rewards or major penalties to the evaluation method will motivate students and teachers to achieve better learning outcomes. The U.S. law known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) heralded a new age of increased high-stakes testing. When implemented in 2002, the NCLB enforced how and what educators would teach and how and what students would learn. It supported standards-based education reform built on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education.

The NCLB heightened the stakes of standardized tests for schools and school districts because under the law, the test scores were publicly [Page 780]reported and schools that did not make adequate yearly progress for multiple years could face sanctions. The most severe sanctions under the law were replacement of the principal and school closure.

Many opponents of the NCLB contended that high-stakes testing had deleterious effects on students and teachers and that the consequences attached to poor performance failed to motivate students or improve teacher practices. In 2015, the NCLB was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act, which continues the annual testing requirement but gives states more discretion over their accountability systems. Still, high-stakes testing continues to be suggested as a means for educational reform.

Stressful effects of high-stakes testing are extensively reported in the literature. Stress is most often reported in terms of behavior (focused attention), cognition (outside worries/thoughts about the results), and physiology (increased heart rate). Most often reported is the notion that students with high test anxiety do not perform well when compared to students with low test anxiety. There has been relatively little research examining interventions for test anxiety.

See also Adequate Yearly Progress; Every Student Succeeds Act; No Child Left Behind Act; Standardized Tests; Standards-Based Assessment